The Virginia Tech Hokies were successful at home against the Pittsburgh Panthers and Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish over a two-day tri-meet. The Panther women fought hard to beat the Irish with a close score while the Notre Dame men had more success putting down Pitt. Including the diving events, the Hokies won 27 out of the 40 events of the weekend – an impressive showing for their Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Men’s Scoring
- Virginia Tech 237, Notre Dame 131
- Virginia Tech 254, Pitt 116
- Notre Dame 214, Pitt 150
Women’s Scoring
- Virginia Tech 208, Notre Dame 162
- Virginia Tech 224, Pitt 146
- Pitt 188, Notre Dame 182
Friday, November 6th
The trio of ACC teams opened the day’s events with the women’s 200 free relay with Pitt edging Notre Dame by .03 to win in 1:34.22. The Hokie men struck first on their side with a 1:22.16 and their progress continued in the 400 IM with a tie between juniors Zach Switzer and Robert Owen (3:57.10).
Virginia Tech’s campaign was interrupted during the 200 back with tough races by Irish freshman Alice Treuth (1:58.79) and sophomore Rob Whitacre (1:48.04). Brandon Fiala took the 100 breast in 55.69 but it was Irish swimmer Trent Jackson’s 57.59 that prevented a 1-2-3 Hokie sweep. Pitt got their first win in the 100 free when sophomore Emily Murphy (51.06) foiled a top-two Irish finish in that event. Virginia Tech’s distance standouts, Jessica Hespeler and Michal Szuba, resumed the streak each eclipsing two Pitt swimmers in the 1650 free. The home team closed the day’s swims with victories in the 200 medley and 800 free relays.
Shifting to the boards, Notre Dame dove for a 1-2 finish on the 3-meter led by senior Lindsey Streepey (316.70) and teammate Emma Gaboury (301.75) as Pitt’s Annie Crea (284.55) finished third. It was Ashlynn Peters, a freshman from Virginia Tech, whose score of 312.90 was enough to best Pitt’s Meme Sharp on the 1-meter. Pitt junior Dominic Giorano prevented a top-four Hokie sweep on the 1-meter board, posting a score of 340.25. He would return later to the 3-meter to prevent another Hokie sweep with a 365.45 to close out the diving events.
Saturday, November 7th
As the action commenced at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center Saturday morning, so did Virginia Tech’s control of the tri-meet. The Hokie men and women clinched the 400 medley relay and then seized wins in the 500 free with Hespeler’s 4:53.63 and Szuba’s 4:28.51. Fiona Donnelly and teammate Fiala furthered Virginia Tech’s lead with the 200 IM in 2:04.49 and 1:51.59, respectively. It took Murphy’s 50 Free (23.52) and Notre Dame’s Justin Plaschka’s 50 free (20.68) to end their early run.
Polish swimmer Klaudia Nazieblo grabbed a pair of wins in the back-to-back 200 fly (2:01.08) and 100 back (55.46) for Virginia Tech. The Irish men took 1st and 2nd in the 200 fly with freshmen Matthew Grauslys (1:49.69) and junior Kevin Bradley (1:51.83). Another Polish Hokie, Weronika Paluszek, took the 200 breast in 2:14.82 to match her other first place finishes in the 100 breast and medley relays. Virginia Tech picked up a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 breast with Justin Edwards (2:05.7), Michael Craddock (2:06.03), and Eric Delmonte (2:06.28).
Hespeler returned to battle freshmen Ella Moynihan and Rachel Brown in the 200 free but naturally added the mid-distance event to her shelf of wins. Pitt got their lone individual event win of the day with David Sweeney’s 1:40.17 200 free to best two Hokie seniors.
Not to be sent home without a fight, the Panther women roared back in the 400 free relay to defeat both the Irish and the Hokies in 3:26.07. The Irish men would have more luck in the event, snuffing out Virginia Tech by four seconds at 3:00.85 before heading back to Indiana.
